News: New Connection in Wookey Hole

Rift Passage, Becca Burne, photo copyright Chris Binding

A recent connection has been dug in Wookey Hole Caves to link Charon’s Chamber with the adjacent Troup’s Rift.

Charon’s Chamber is a high rift across the River Axe in Chamber One, The Witch’s Kitchen, and was first entered by the MNRC in 1934. A link between the two was originally predicted by Barrington and Stanton in their book Mendip: The Complete Caves (1977), which records that Troup’s Rift was first ‘scratched at’ by R.D.R. Troup in 1908.”

The connection involved moving some rocks and gravel and the first through trip was completed by caving instructors, including Andy Sparrow, on Monday 21st May 2018. The trip involves crossing the river by boat and there are some stoops and crawls.

The linking passage forms part of the impressive technical adventure caving experience offered by the show cave and further details of this can be found at wildwookey.co.uk

Boat across River Axe heading towards Charon’s Chamber – Steve Dowden (left), Becca Burne, caving instructor (right), Photo by Andrew Horeckyj, copyright Wookey Hole Caves Ltd

Correspondent Chris Binding